The Fourth Khilafat of Hazrat Ali Ibn-Abi Talib AS.
Ali was stitching his slippers that were worn out in the garden while watering the plants. He turned to his Ibn-e-Abbas, his companion and asked what could be the price of the slipper he was stitching. His companion said that it is completely worn out and is not worth anything. Ali turned to his companion and said that the value of Khilafat before him is the price of his wornout slipper. Suddenly a large group of people came into the farm like a swarm of flies. They folded their hands, requested Ali to be the next Khalifa and lead them. Ali turned back and said that he has no interest for that post. The people kept on insisting him & Ali always refused. Then people said that they shall complain to Allah that when Muslims required a good leader Ali refused to lead them. Then Ali agreed and said that if the people want him to be their Leader then they have to meet his conditions. People without even listening to Ali's conditions said that they agree on every single condition but they want Ali to lead them desperately from immediate effect. Ali told them to go back and come to the Masjid-e-Rasool the next day to acknowledge his conditions before forcing him to lead.
The next day erybody gathered in the Mosque and some people who did not like Ali were thinking where will Ali sit to deliver his sermon (Qudba). Prophet sat on the top level on the pulpit (Mimbar), Hazrat Abubaker sat on the 2nd, Hazrat Omar sat on the 3rd & Hazrat Osman sat on the 4th and now there were no more levels left. They thought that either Ali will either give the sermon standing or will bring his own Mimbar.
Now, Ali appeared into the Mosque went towards Mimbar stepped on the 4th level, stepped on the 3rd level, stepped on the 2nd level and sat exactly where Prophet Mohammad PBUH sat to deliver his sermon. Now, he took over from where Prophet Mohammed wanted him to lead.
Ali gave his historic Qudba in which he said that the rulers & governors of Bani Umayya has eaten Baitul Maal like hungry camel graze the green fields in the spring season. Baitul was mis-used, rights of people were snatched and zulm spread to a large extent and cleanliness of the mosques effected by the drunk governors. Islamic rules (shariat) changed and the thinking of people towards Islam has changed. If he takes up the position of Khalifa, then he will not let anybody mis-use Baitul Maal. Not a single dirham will go out without his permission. All the money that was taken away from Baitul Maal, for personal use will be brought back to Baitul Maal. Whoever did attrocities and broke Allah's rules will be punished. Oppressors will be punished. The rule will be strictly Islamic as used to be at the time of Prophet and the punishments will be according to Quran and he will do whatever he thinks best in the best interest of Islam.
Ali told every single person to understand this very clearly before they force him to lead. Every body said Labbaik, Labbaik and that's what they wanted. Ali made it clear once again and took the responsibility to lead. Remember it is already 25 years since Prophet died and everything changed in these 25 years. Prophetic traditions (sunnat) changed, no authentic sunnat was available, sins increased in masses, habits were spoilt and Ali knew very well that changing habits of the young generation is a difficult task. He also knew that there were people who will put hurdles in his rule.
This was the only Khilafat that was selected & appointed by the people openly and people forced Ali to lead them after accepting his conditions. All the previous Khilafats were made Khalifas by themselves, closed doors.
Ali led the group prayer after being nominated as their leader. Shibli Nomani writes in his book that after the prayer there was only one sentence on the lips of every elderly person, they offered the Prayers as they offered at the time of Holy Prophet. This clearly shows that during the rule of 25 years even Namaz never remained in its original form.
First announcement Ali made was the dismissal of all the Governors. He said that new list of Governors will be announced the next day in the Mosque. Talha & Zubair sent letters to Ali to appoint them the Governors of Misr (Egypt) and Basra as they said they are familiar with those cities. Ali asked them to come to the next day to the mosque and the list will be announced there. The next day the list of new Governors was announced. None of the people who sent their personal proposals were included in the list. Some people made fun when the list was announced because most of the people in the list were simple people like farmers and nobody knew them. When these people were sent to their territories to take up the post, either they were killed or were beaten and driven away. Then Ali sent Malik-e-Ashtar along with the selected Governors and everyone was replace except 2 places. One was Koofa (Walid bin Oqaba) and the other Shaam (Syria) (Mu'avia).
Ali went to Koofa personally to replace Walid and make Koofa his base. There were 2 reasons. First, Walid gave stiff resistance to leave Koofa and secondly, Syria is very near to Koofa so that Ali can replace Mu'awia, who completely rejected Ali's orders of his dismissal and refused to accept Ali as his Khalifa.
Now everything was very strict and Ali is bringing back all the stolen money of Baitul Maal and lives of the previous rulers became difficult. Bibi Ayesha's dream of making Talah or Zubayr as the next Khalifa failed. The famous incident quoted in the books of Sunni scholars happened took place at this time, when two people came to Ali with a question. Ali asked if it is personal or political. When they said personal Ali turned the lamp off. They asked why did he put the lamp off. Ali said that the lamp is burning with the oil from Biatul Maal, and he shall not allow himself to use that oil for anybody's personal questions. By seeing this strictness they changed the subject and returned. So now Talha, Zubair, Bibi Ayesha, Mu'avia and their group started a new movement to bring disturbances and deviate people from the right path. Their goal was to make problems & mischieves in Ali's Khilafat. The movement is to take revenge of the death of Hazrat Osman. Bibi Aisha herself wrote Fatwa to kill Hazrat Osman and now she wants to take revenge. They started to blame followers of Ali and started a new propaganda. They even blamed Mohammed bin Abubakr, the son of the first Khalifa who was always with Ali since the death of the Holy Prophet and said openly that his father, Hazrat Abubaker, is on the wrong path. Ali loved him and called him his own son thereof. Bibi Aisha, Talha, Zubair and Mu'avia spread hatred towards Ali, Hassan & Hussain among the people of Ahlebait.
She herself witnessed at one time that Prophet said,
'To see the face of Ali is Ibaadat'
'To listen to Ali is Ibaadat'
'To love Ali is Ibaadat'
'Ali is the leader of most truthful'
And she also witnessed Prophet sayings,
'Ali is with truth and truth is with Ali'
'Ali is with Quran and Quran is with Ali'
'Whoever liked Ali, liked me & whoever hated Ali, hated me'
'Whoever went to war with Ali, went war with me & whoever went with war me shall definitely go to hell'
The fact is, all the wars fought by Ali in the presence of the Holy Prophet were with non-believers (Kafirs) and all the wars fought by Ali after he took Khilafat were with Muslims.
Despite the Prophet's warning she drove the camel, which is also prohibited in Islam and the dogs barked and she declared war against Ali, 'The Leader of the Faithful' who is also the Khalifa of the time and who was executing the rules of Islam revealed onto the Holy Prophet. Jung-e-Jamal took place, which was started by Bibi Ayesha against Khalifa Ali ibn-abi-Talib in which thousands of Muslims were killed.
Battle of JAMAL
The war led and fought by Bibi Ayesha (the widow of Holy Prophet) against Hazrat Ali (the Leader of the Heavens) and the Khalifa of the time. I haven't seen a single war won by anybody against Ali and I don't understand what made her take this decision. She took the decision confront Ali. She is responsible for thousands of Muslims killed in this war. The important thing to note was that one son of Hazrat Abubaker (Mohammed bin Abubaker) and one daughter of Hazrat Abubaker (wife of Zubayr) were on Hazrat Ali's side in the war. The war was no match to Ali because Hazrat Abbas (son of Ali), Hassan & Hussain, Malik-e-Ashtar were in the war with Ali. Within minutes Ali defeated the forces of Bibi Ayesha and cut the legs of the camel she was riding. Ali sent Mohammed bin Abubaker to assist his sister Ayesha, come out. Later Ali ordered his soldiers to burn that camel. Ali made a special force to take Bibi Ayesha back to her home, to Madina, safely. When Bibi Ayesha reached Madina she started telling people that Ali sent her with men (Na-menhram). At that time the soldiers removed their head shields and Bibi Ayesha was stunned to find them to be the Arab women soldiers. Every single Muslim witnessed the justice of Ali and the lies of Bibi Ayesha.
Bibi Ayesha is not only responsible for the death of more than 10,000 Muslims killed in this war, but she is also responsible for masterminding the killings of thousands of more muslims after this war. She is also responsible for attributing wrong Ahadees to the Holy Prophet, changing Prophets sunnah and defaming the Holy image of the Prophet according to the authentic Sunni Scholars. Please visit the site http://www.al-islam.org/encyclopedia/
Mohammed bin Abi baker was the son of Hazrat Abubaker and always lived with Hazrat Ali from the beginning. Hazrat Ali always called him his son and loved him very much. He was born in the journey for the last Haj of the Holy Prophet and died as martyr in 38 H at the age of 28. He was a trusted companion of Hazrat Ali. When Hazrat Ali became the Caliph he replace the Governor of Egypt with Mohameed bin-Abi baker. Mohammed bin Abi Baker reached Egypt to take over as Governor and the situation was very tense and Mua'wia's men attacked him. Mohammed's army was small and the army deserted him and Mohammed fled to the neighbouring village and sought refuge till he got some help from Ali. It was a heavy and planned attack from Mua'via. Mua'via's men however got the news about him and somehow traced him down. Mohammed was dying with thirst and he asked for water. These cruel men refused water and butchered him thirsty. Then they put the body of Mohammed on the belly of a dead ass and burnt it. Bibi Ayesha was very angry and furious over Mua'via over the merciless killing of her brother.
Mua'via in Syria
Here, Mu'avia rejected Ali as Khalifa and declared himself as Khalifa. He further rejected Ali's decision of dismissal of his government as he (Ali) asked him to step down. He refused and said that he is the ultimate ruler of Syria. He rejected all the rulings of the Khalifa (Ali) who is appointed by the people in the Prophet's mosque. Ali was not even appointed closed door by 'Shura' of like-minded people. He was elected by the muslims in Masjid-e-Rasool.
Now, he started rebuking Ali, children of Ali, Ahlebait and the followers of Ali. He gave instructions to all the people to insult Ali's rulings and speeches. He also instructed his ministry to defame Ali's personal, physical, moral and spritual image and rebuke Ali and his children from every mimbar. The mimbars which was originally designed to spread Islam, religion, faith, honesty, good deeds by Prophet Mohammed was now used to rebuke and spread hatred towards Ali, Ahlebait and followers of Ali. Mimbars were used to spread the news that Ali never prayed, never fasted, don't have the same Quran, don't have any knowledge and never follow Islam. Every single person was stopped and asked to insult Ali on the streets in various ways. If they didn't comply the orders they were punished and beaten till they bled. They were tied with ropes, hit with the whips and to the extent their tongues were cut and they were tortured till they died (TIWG 146). There were even incidents where people were burnt alive and buried alive by Mu'avia ibn Abu Sufian (TIWG 130). Zulm and atrocities reached their heights and this sunnat of Mu'avia is followed even till this day. With this Mu'avia did not stop, he finally waged the war with Ali.
History also recorded, Ummul Momineen, Omme-Salma wrote to Mua'via, "Certainly you people abuse Allah and Prophet, and this is like this that you hurl abuses on Ali and those who love him, while I do stand witness that Allah and the Prophet did love him" (al-Iqd al-Fareed, vol.3, p.131 - NB 210)
Battle of Siffeen
This war was fought by Mu'avia against the Ali, the Khalifa of the time, in the year 37 AH. The war was fought near furat (lake). Most of the wars Prophet & Ali fought were mostly fought near the lakes so that both the sides consume the same water from the lake. This war was fought near furat (lake). Mu'avia put soldiers on water and declared that he has taken control of the lake and shall give no water to Ali's soldiers. Soldiers came to Ali and asked him what to do. Ali said to the thirsty soldiers that if they could drink the water only if they soaked their swords with the enemy's blood first. Soldiers fought a brave war and took furat in their control. Now they decided to do the same thing, stop water to Mu'avia's army. When the news reached Ali, he said no. This is against the Islamic principals to stop water in the war. People insisted why they shouldn't do the same thing. Then Ali replied that if he do the same thing then there won't be any difference left between Ali & Mu'avia, Islam and the Kufr.
Mua'via's army was no match to Ali's army. Mua'via sent Amr-e-Aas to go to battlefield do and something. Amr-e-Aas came running down to Mu'avia and said that he did a miracle. Mu'avia asked him what miracle he did. He asked Mu'avia whether it is possible to escape if somebody comes under Ali's sword. Mu'avia said it is impossible. Then Amr-e-Aas said that he already came under Ali's sword, and at that time he suddenly dropped down all his clothes. Then Ali turned away saying 'Laholavala' and he could ran back to Mu'avia alive. See how big miracle Amr-e-Aas did. This incident proves that Ali lifted his sword only on warriors.
Ali had his son, Hazrat Abbas, Imam Hassan, Imam Hussain, Malik-e-Ashtar were all there in that war and were already nearing the victory. Mu'avia asked Amr-e-As to do something and they decided another tactics. When Malik-e-Ashtar was about to strike the last base, which was the camp of Mu'avia. Soldiers came out carrying Quran's on their heads and started shouting to stop the fight. Ali's forces did not want to fight against Quran and they stopped the fight. Ali insisted them to fight, as the enemy wanted to take excuse and survive. Ali's army did not fight and instead threatened to attack & kill Ali himself, if Malik-e-Ashtar did not stop proceeding towards Mua'via. Ali sent a man and call back Malik-e-Ashtar. Here Mu'avia survived again.
Ammar-e-Yassir fought on Ali's side against Mua'via. Ammar was killed by Mua'via's men. This made disturbance in Mua'via's camp as people on his side remembered Prophet's Hadith that 'Ammar would be killed by a rebellious group who will be on wrong path'. People surely understood that they were on the wrong path. Prophet loved Ammar very much and he was killed by the rebellious group, the Mua'via.
Once Mua'via survived the war he called for arbitration (settlement) and 2 people were selected one from his side and one from Ali's side. Ali did not trusted on the person representing him but that person was selected to represent by the people on Ali's side. Amr-e-Aas who was representing Mua'via successfully fooled this person and declared Mua'via to be the Khalifa. Ali was removed from the Kalifate by Amr-e-Aas and Mua'via. The Muslim world saw Ali being removed and Mua'via being restored as the Khalifa of the Muslim world. Ali smiled at the destiny of the unfortunate Muslims. But he always had the followers who loved him as their leader (Imam) immediately after the death of the Holy Prophet, the Shi'ites. In this battle 45,000 Syrians were killed while 25,000 men from Hazrat Ali fell as Martyrs.
Meanwhile, another group emerged who neither liked Ali's strict 'adalat' nor liked Mua'vias lavishness & Zulm. They used to pray but refused the Khalifat of Ali. It was a group known as 'Kwarijis' and they came to war against Ali resulting in Jung-e-Neharwan. This war completely wiped out Kwarijis.
Ali ruled for 4 and half years and on his last days of his rule he called people and asked them if they are satisfied with his rule. People agreed with their hearts and said 'Labbaik, Labbaik'. Scholars wrote in their books that during the rule of Ali ibn-e-Abi Talib, not a single Muslim slept with hunger. Every person got his right, every widow got her right and every orphan got his right. Ali tried his best to bring the true Islam that was there at the time of Prophet Mohammed. He could not succeed fully because Mua'via's group always created disturbances during Ali's Khilafat by attacking, killing & looting people. Still sins and bad habits prevailed in the society.
On the 19th Ramazan, Ali went to pray in Masjid-e-Koofa & Azaan was going on. A person was sleeping on his chest. Ali himself tried to wake him up. He didn't wake up. People tried to wake him up for the Fajr prayers, he didn't wake up. Prayer started and Ali led the prayers. The man sleeping was none other than Abdur Rahman ibn-e-Muljim. He was hiding a sword dipped in deadly poison. He hit Ali on the head when he went into Sajda. The wound was very deep and all the blood drained out. The medicine man saw the wound and got fainted. He said that Ali is still alive because he is Ali and any common person would have died instantly. Ali struggled for 3 days, the whole poison spread into his body, the head was still open with the wound.
Ibn-e-Muljim was caught and was brought before Ali. Ali asked him if he was a bad Khalifa. He said 'no' but he took the revenge of his father who was killed by Ali in 'Jung-e-Naherwan'. Companions of Ali wanted to kill Ibn-e-Muljim but Ali said that if they want to kill him, he should be killed only with one blow because he hit Ali only one blow. Just look at the justice of Ali even in that state. Anyway Ibn-e-Muljim escaped and was murdered by his other enemies. Hazrat Ali AS passed away. This was the only Khalifa where the whole city of Koofa cried bitterly upon the demise of their Khalifa. It was the greatest blow to the Muslim world after Prophet Mohammed. Upon Hazrat Ali's death Bibi Ayesha prostrated herselfs in happiness and thanked Allah because she hated Hazrat Ali very much (TIWG 196).
The fact is, all the wars fought by Ali with the Holy Prophet were with non-believers (Kafirs) and all the wars fought by Ali after he took Khilafat were with believers (Muslims). What is important to note is, Ali was an active figure in the Islamic history during Prophet's time. After Prophet's demise, suddenly there is silence on Ali's role for 25 years. He was not given any position or any post in any Khilafat. People who hated the Holy Prophet were given posts. People who were sent out of Madina by the Holy Prophet were called back into Madina and were given positions. There are no Ahadees refferring to Hazrat Ali, whereas, Ali is the most 'Truthful' & most 'Knowledgeable' amonst all the companions of the Holy Prophet. People plead him to lead them. When he takes over as the leader there are wars against him by the Muslim groups. This clearly shows that there were people who never liked Ali right from the time of Holy Prophet.
Hazrat Ali AS as Administrator
In this 4 and half years of Khilafat of Hazrat Ali, he fought so many battles and went through so many mischieves and disturbances by the enemy forces. He not only tried to bring back the stolen Baitul-Maal and he not only did Jihad to bring back Shariat into Islam but he infact brought reforms into state administration. He laid foundation of the government administration and designed the working policies as a statesman. I can write many pages on this, but just to highlight him as an administrator, I would take previlege to write few words.
This is the first rule in the Islamic history and the Muslim rule after the Holy Prophet where the Muslim states were ruled by a through planning and the procedures were laid. The government was divided and the responsibilities were shared with a strict eye on the government officials. Hazrat Ali laid the foundation of the government administration.
He divided his entire state services into departments and sub-departments,
1. Finance department
2. Army
3. Central Secretariat
4. Judiciary
5. Provincial offices
The Fiance department was sub-divided into Collection section and Distribution section
Then Collection section was again sub-divided into 3 Heads
1. Land Revenue: Usually collected in coins of silver, gold or in bullion
2. Zakat(poor rate) and Sadaqaat(poor fund): Usually collected in live-stock
3. Jizya(tax) from non-muslims
Every tax- payer had the right to apeal to the court. He introduced Budgetary system for collection of Revenues and its Expenditure. Every province had to present their budget to him for approval. He divided that into Provincial and Central. The rates of land revenues were fixed by him according to fertility of the land in grades.
The Jizya, the personal tax rates were fixed by him according to classes like,
Landlords 48 dirhams,
Middle class 42 dirhams,
Busnessmen 40 dirhams and
General public 12 dirhams.
There were strict orders not to collect taxes from following category,
1. Those who were above 50 years
2. Those who were below 20 years
3. All women-folks
4. All paralysed, disabled, blind and mad people
Income from the sources of Zakat and Sadaqat was reserved for,
1. Administratin of department of Collection and Distribution
2. Grants, donations and aids to poors, orphans, aged widows and disable people
3. Volunteers who fought for state
4. Pensions to widows, orphans of soldiers and officers of army
5. To ackquire and to set free slaves from bondage of slavery
6. Reparation of government loans
7. To help Hajis when they found stranded.
Hazrat Ali was the first person to declare that the ruler's (Ali's) share of income from the state was equal to that of the common person.
Income from Jizya was spent on
1. Maintenance of army
2. Construction and Maintenance of forts
3. Contruction and maintenance of roads and bridges
4. Wells
5. Construction of Rest houses
Land revenues were spent on maintenance of courts, offices etc.
All the important people in his government were appointed by Hazrat Ali himself. Hazrat kept strict eye on the work of his officers and used to take strict account from the officers in regular meetings. Every complaint was dealt with strictness. Every Thursday was the payday for the Muslims and every Thursday the accounts were closed. Friday was the national holiday. Many times he gave away his share to poor and needy people and returned home empty handed.
Some of the administration policies brought many enemies for Hazrat Ali and people started leaving him and gathering around Mua'via. Those policies were,
- This equal distribution of wealth.
- Bringing important and rich persons down to the level of common general public
- Raising the status of Negroes and Persians to that of Arabs
- Allotting shares to slaves equal to their masters
- Depriving the rich persons of their Jagirs
- Stopping special grants enjoyed by the rich people provided to them by previous governments.
Othmaan ibn-Haneefa, the trusty companion told Ali that those policies are doing more harm to Ali than doing any good to him.
So Ali replied, "I cannot allow rich and influential people to exploit the society of this Muslim state and to run unjust system of distribution of wealth. I cannot for a moment tolerate this. This is public wealth, it comes from the masses it must go back to them."
"As far as their desertion goes, I am glad they have deserted me. I am not helping them to secure my services, but they are unable to serve me. May Allah help me to do my duty as He wishes me to do" (Kitab al-Gharaa). There are a lot of services to discuss as they are worth discussing specially the rules & regulations he designed for each and every department, but this is just to quickly present him as an administrator. People in his Khilafat acknowledged the rule as the Godly and fair administration.
Food of Ali ibn-Abi Talib : I just want to mention an incident recorded by all muslim historians in their books. A man saw Ali wrapping an old cloth over something very tightly and then he (Ali) put that bundle over the tree. Then Ali left on his daily work. It was the summer time on the Arab land. That man waited near the tree to see what Ali has hidden in that bundle. Later in the noon-time, Ali returned to the tree, brought the bundle down and was opening it. The man who was hiding came near Ali to see what Ali was hiding which was so precious to him. Ali opened it, sat down and started eating a crumbled, dried piece of bread. The man was stunned and told Ali, who is the Khalifa of the time, that even if he kept that bread on the tree without the cloth on it, nobody would eat it. To which Ali replied that he was afraid that Hassan or Hussain (his children) might put something over it if they came to know that it was their father's food. Ali said that he prefers that kind of food because his food cannot be better than the food of the poorest person in his Khilafat. It is questionable by Allah SWT that when HE gave the rule or Khilafat into Ali's hands, why did he (Ali) lead the life that was better than the poorest person in his rule.
This is true that in his rule nobody slept with hunger in the home-town of Koofa, for which Ali ibn-Abi Talib was the immediate Governor as well as the Khalifa of the muslim world. It was late evening, when Imam Hassan was returning back after burying Hazrat Ali ibn-Abi Talib. From a distance he saw that there is an old man, who was blind with trembling limbs was coming out of his small broken house, looking here-and-there and then getting back into his house again, as though he was impatiently waiting for someone. Imam Hassan approached him and asked him if he is waiting for somebody. The old man stopped, put his hand on Imam Hassan's shoulder and said that his (Imam Hassan's) voice and tone is similar to the person's voice & tone that he is waiting. The old man said that, every evening, a man used to come to his door. He used to talk to him with great love & respect. He used to strengthen him morally. He also used to bring bread with him and used to feed him with his own hands while talking. The old man said that he did not come for the past 3 days. He said that he is not worried about the food that he used to bring, but he is more worried about that person himself. Imam Hussain with the tears rolling down his eyes said that it was his father Ali ibn-Abi Talib, the Khalifa of the time and was martyred in the mosque of Koofa by the enemies. He said that Ali was hit in the head with the sword dipped in poison while praying in the mosque. He struggled for 3 days as the poison spread the whole body. The old man cried bitterly and showed surprised as to how could there be enemies of a person like Ali ibn-Abi Talib.
Mu'avia seized power after deceiving Ali's representative and declared himself as Khalifa. Hazrat Ali declared Imam Hassan to lead the people after him (this is Shi'ite leadership which I will discuss in detail later in this article). Mu'avia propagated hatred and masterminded the killing of Imam Hassan by poisoning him (TIWG 192). Imam Hassan wanted to be buried near Prophet and according to his will when Imam Hussain took him to bury him near the Prophet, Bibi Aisha stopped Bani Hashim and got ready to fight again. She said that she will not allow Imam Hassan to be buried near Prophet because she hated Ahlulbait. Imam Hussain didn't wanted to fight and he stopped Bani Hashim from fighting. But oppression (zulm) was done on the body of Imam Hassan. She ordered her companions to throw arrows on the body of Imam Hassan and many arrows were thrown which stuck the body of Imam Hassan's dead body. This was the second time Zulm was done on the dead body after the incident of Hinda chewed Hazrat Hamza's liver. Imam Hussain, Bibi Zainab and Bani Hashim removed the arrows from the dead body of Imam Hassan. Later Imam Hassan was buried in Baqi near his mother, 'Qatoon-e-Jannat' Bibi Fatima (TIWG 168)
There Mua'via died and made his son Yazid-ibn-Mua'via-ibn-Abu-Sufian, the Khalifa of the Muslims. So, Yazid was the product of the previous 35 years aggressive hatred towards Ahlebait. Every body knows that he was always drunk, womanized in his palace, wore silk and never followed any Islam. Now he picked up the hatred towards Ahlebait from where his father left. The hatred he was unbelievable and now he started spreading his religion of Kufr. He started spreading the news that there was no Quran from Allah & it is a book written by the group of Bani Hashim. He lied Wahi and Gibraeal. He lied that no Prophet by name Mohammed ever existed and it is just a false story spread by Bani Hashim. Drinking, womanizing, wearing silk are all permitted and there is no harm. Atrocities (zulm) were done on every Muslim. He wiped out the people who loved Ali. Now he built up a strong army just for one reason, to wipe out Imam Hussain and Ahlebait because Imam Hussain always defended, preached and practiced Quran and Prophetic traditions. Hussain was also weak in Madina because his Imamat was recognized by a small group of Shi'as (who liked & followed Ali & Ahlebait). They were very few. Most of the people were forced to curse and dislike Ali. The name of Hazrat Ali in Khalifa-e-Rashidoon was included only in 230 H Ahmed Ibn Hambal.
Yazid sent a letter to Hussain to surrender his leadership of Imamat and follow Yazid's Khilafat. Yazid asked Imam Hussain to acknowledge his Yazidi Khilafat. As I've written earlier also, Yazid wanted to be the ruler as well as the religious authority over the Muslim world. He wanted Imam Hussain to acknowledge his Khilafat because he knew that the true Islam is preached and practised by Imam Hussain and Ahlebait only. He wanted to finish that Islam and wanted to spread his religion outside Syria, to Madina first and then spread across all the Muslim nations. He sent his representative to Imam Hussain to surrender and acknowledge him as the Khalifa. Hussain decided that the time has come and Yazid and his race should be stopped. Imam Hussain replied to Yazid's representative 'person like me shall not bow down to a person like Yazid'. The clear meaning was the ideology of Hussain shall never bow down before ideology of Yazid'. The fight of Karbala was not between Hussain and Yazid. It was the fight between the 'ideology of faith' versus 'the ideology of infidels (kufr)'. This resulted in the historic & sorrowful war of Karbala, which terminated Yazidi's Khilafat and Islamic values were preserved. The war taught us that the war between Justice and Injustice should continue till the Doomsday. Hussain paid a heavy price to preserve the purity of Religion of Islam.